1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a method of shrink wrapping packs of containers and a shrink-wrapping arrangement for performing the method.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
The present application relates to a method for heat-shrinking a shrink wrap film onto packs, whereby the heat-shrinking of the shrink wrap film of packs being moved a transport track is performed using a hot, gaseous media, for example hot air. The hot, gaseous medium forms at least one jet that is moved in conjunction with the respective pack by control action during heat-shrinking. The present application also relates to an apparatus for the heat-shrinking of a shrink wrap film to packs, having at least one jet of a hot, gaseous medium, for example having at least one jet of hot air, having at least one transport track on which the packs are moved during the heat-shrinking of the shrink wrap film, and having at least one discharge or nozzle opening for emitting the at least one jet of the hot, gaseous medium. The at least one jet of the hot, gaseous medium is moved in conjunction with the respective pack by control action during heat-shrinking for performing method of the present application.
Different types of packs, including for example in the form of trading units comprising multiple packaging units, are held together by means of shrink wrap film.
Packaging units include e.g. packs filled with a product and sealed, such as bottles and cans, but also product-filled packs made of a single or multi-ply sheet material, etc.
To create packs in the form of trading units, multiple packaging units are assembled into a trading unit group, which is then wrapped in shrink wrap and the shrink wrap exposed to a hot, gaseous medium, i.e. in practice heat-shrunk onto the trading unit group using hot air so that the packaging units are joined together to form the trading unit.
Heat-shrinking of the shrink wrap film is performed by moving the packs or trading unit on a conveyor through an apparatus configured as a shrink tunnel.
It is not always possible to heat-shrink the shrink wrap film to create crease-free packs, which are increasingly required to satisfy the more exacting requirements of consumers.